During the manufacture of garments and other products, including hats, shoes, gloves, bags, and other accessories, a supplemental material having a particular shape may need to be secured to a base textile. The supplemental material may be provided for decoration, identification, reinforcement, or other purposes. For example, when manufacturing athletic uniforms, pockets or zippers may be attached to a base fabric layer of a jersey.
Attachment of supplemental material to a garment or related product may occur in any of numerous ways. For example, the supplemental material may be stitched onto a base layer of fabric. Alternatively, an adhesive may be used to bond the supplemental material to the fabric. Adhesives, such as thermoplastic films, are often the preferred method of securing supplemental material to a garment for numerous reasons. First, bonding helps maintain water-proof features of a seam-taped garment. Bonding can also reduce the weight of a garment by allowing for the removal of extraneous seam tape. A bonded seam may also be useful toward flattening or reducing the profile of a seam line that would otherwise be felt next to the skin of the wearer of the garment. Furthermore, bonding may be used to achieve a particular aesthetic on a garment.
A typical method for securing supplemental material to a garment includes die-cutting a sheet of adhesive material in the form of a thermoplastic film. The sheet of thermoplastic film is cut to match the shape of the supplemental material to be secured to a base fabric. Once the thermoplastic film is cut to the desired shape, it is secured to the base fabric using a heat treatment or other bonding process. The supplemental shape is then placed on the exposed side of the thermoplastic film and the adhesive material is again exposed to the bonding process, thus securing the supplemental shape to the base fabric. An example of such a process is disclosed in U.S. Patent Publication No. 2004/0176005.
While the foregoing process for bonding a supplemental material to a base fabric has certain efficiencies over other processes, it may also result in a significant amount of waste. In particular, if the shape of the die-cut piece of thermoplastic film is irregular or has a closed perimeter such that a hollow area is formed within the shape, a large amount of scrap material may result from the die-cutting process. It is not uncommon for this waste to exceed fifty percent of the adhesive sheet. Furthermore, the die-cutting process for the thermoplastic film results in significant handling costs during the manufacturing process.
In view of the foregoing, it would be desirable to provide a process for bonding a supplemental material to a base fabric that results in reduced waste. It would also be advantageous if the process for bonding supplemental material to a base textile could reduce manufacturing costs.